Indeed, each of the four physicists who received the Fundamental Physics Prize was cited for their unparalleled contributions to physics. Arkani-Hamed was cited for his theories on large extra dimensions, the Higgs boson, supersymmetry, dark matter and gauge theory scattering amplitudes. Maldacena for showing that "black holes and quantum mechanics are compatible, resolving the black hole information paradox" and for providing "a useful tool for the study of strongly coupled quantum systems." Seiberg was named for his unifying quantum field, string and supersymmetric quantum field theories and Witten for non perturbative duality symmetries, models of particle physics derived from string theory, dark matter detection and the twister-string approach to particle scattering amplitudes.

Their accomplishments are fitting for the Institute that houses them. Founded in 1930 as an independent academic institution in Princeton, New Jersey, it soon became the academic home of Albert Einstein, along with 33 Nobel Laureates, 38 Fields Medalists and countless winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes. Today the Institute is a leader for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. Entirely independent of Princeton University, the Institute is made up of four schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science.

Jeffrey Epstein supports cutting edge physics and science research around the world. In 2003, he founded the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard with a $30 million grant to study evolution with the use of mathematics and biochemistry. The Program is under the direction of Martin Nowak, Professor of Mathematics and Biology at Harvard.

Epstein is a former member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York Academy of Science and a former Board Member of Rockefeller University. He sits on the Mind, Brain and Behavior Committee at Harvard.